Category Archives: Technology News

How to install Easy Peasy (in dual boot mode) on a SDHC card (eee pc 900)

This week in our Linux Page (in Spanish) , we added a brief "manual" about installing Easy Peasy as secondary OS, on an eee pc 900. Before, we tried the installation of eeebuntu but the installation failed because the Install feature is not able to recognize the SDHC card. First of all you have to create a live USB with Easy Peasy using Unetbootin . Then you have to change the bootup BIOS on your PC. In this way, eee pc will boot up Easy Peasy directly. Once running, Easy Peasy will automatically run the "Install it" feature. Easy Peasy was the only OS which was able to read the SDHC and to offer the opportunity to install it directly on the card. You will need about 30-40 minutes to complete the installation. After that it is better to restart the system. Then, we suggest to update Easy Peasy using "Update Manager"; in fact you will discover more than 140 updates ready to be installed. Unfortunately, after updating the OS our Easy Peasy does not recognize the camera and we hope to be able to add some more information about possible solutions during the next days. Last but not least, we also suggest to deselect Ubiquity from the boot up using Preferences – Sessions – Startup Programs and you will not be annoyed by the Install feature each time you boot up your eee pc. Enjoy! AddThis mp3 link

Firefox add-ons: use Foxmarks to keep your bookmarks safe and synchronized!

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted a brief review about Foxmarks, a simple but effective add-on for Firefox which can seriously help you to manage, save and restore your bookmarks. In the past, we wrote some reviews about Online Bookmark Manager, Febe and Cleo but, at the moment, we truly believe that Foxmarks is the most flexible between all of them. It is cross-platform (or multiplatform if you prefer), easy to use and very intuitive thanks to its interactive wizards. Foxmarks can be used to simply sharing your bookmarks with your friends or as a professional tool to sync profiles via web between all your PCs. Last but not least, I would like to focus your attenyion on mobile.foxmarks.com which allows you to access bookmarks on all your web-enabled devices. Recommended! AddThis mp3 link

Easily backup your datas and save some energy: two interesting freeware for XP and Vista!

This week, in our Freeware Page, we posted a review about two interesting freeware for Windows: FBackup and edison. FBackup is a powerful software which allows you to easily manage and plan your backups. All the menus are very intuitive and it is possible to back up files also when they are in use. Fbackup is very well structured and allows you to decide when, what, how (zip files or exact copies) and when backup your datas. On the other hand, edison is a simple freeware, developed to helpXP and Vista users to save more energy. Edison contains some simple setups which allow you to determine the best energy “saving” configuration depending your needs. This program can not be considered “revolutionary” but certainly helps to organize our PC, in a more efficient way. To conclude, we really think that using this freeware, we could benefit of some budget savings (in theory it is even possible to calculate your saving when using the dedicated menu). Recommended! AddThis mp3 link

How to easily check HD health using a cross platform software: GSmartControl 0.8.3

GSmartControl is a multiplatform (Windows, OS X, Linux) freeware drive health inspection tool which is very useful in all that case when you think something is not working perfectly on your HD. Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have posted a brief comment about this software which basically is the graphical user interface for smartct. The program is very intuitive and easy to use; it automatically detects all your internal HDs (with some external USB disks we had some problems because they were detected as unknown) and let you decide if you want to activate the SMART feature. This particular feature let you “predict certain kinds of failures with certain chance of success” so you have a better chance to avoid HD crashes and all the consequent data loss. If you prefer, clicking on the “Enable Auto Offline Data Collection” the HDs will be tested every four hours without impacting your CPU performance. I would like to focus your attention that GSmartControl is very well developed and it is possible to download many “personalized” versions for all the main Linux distributions, OS X and Windows. Last but not least, do not forget that SMART could predict some HD crashes but it is not 100% safe; for this reason we strongly recommend you to backup your PCs, at least every week! AddThis mp3 link

Use chkrootkit to fight against rare (but always possible) rootkits on your Linux PCs!

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we would like to focus your attention on chkrootkit, an interesting software for Linux which can really help you to detect malicious rootkits on your Linux PC. Unfortunately, the last update we have found on the chkrootkit homepage is dated December 2007 but we hope to see a new release during the 2009. To check if you have chkrootkit already installed, type chkrootkit on you Terminal:

desktop:~$ chkrootkit

and you certainly will receive this message:
The program ‘chkrootkit’ is currently not installed.  You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install chkrootkit

Follow the above instructions and you will be ready to execute the software just typing:

sudo chkrootkit

Please, note that, at our first scan on Ubuntu 8.10, we found a false positive:

Checking `sniffer’… lo: not promisc and no packet sniffer sockets

eth0: PACKET SNIFFER(/sbin/dhclient3[4835])

Do not worry! This (unfortunately frequent) false positive has already been discussed by the community at

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=556517

and

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=270340

If you know other good anti-rootkits, please be so kind, to add a comment on this post. We are really interested to discover new “security software” (especially anti-rootkit) for Linux machines! AddThis mp3 link

Instantbird: the best cross platform and multi-protocol instant messaging client on the market now!

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have posted a brief post about Instantbird which could be actually considered as the most complete and flexible software to manage all your instant messenger client you normally use (IRC, ICQ, AIM, SIMPLE, SILC, YAHOO, MySpaceIM, XMPP, Sametime, Google, etc..). Moreover Instantbird is completely free, open source and cross platform so you can use it on every PC you have (also at work). We have tested Istantbird for a couple of weeks, without stressing it too much, and we really did not find any bugs so we are really satisfied from the results. Frankly speaking, this software does not contain any “revolutionary” new feature but it can be considered as the state of the art software in its category; something everyone has to benchmark if he (or she) is planning to develop a new instant messaging client! Recommended! AddThis mp3 link

How to create a terrific slideshow in just three steps using Animoto.

This week, in our Freeware Page, we have posted some brief comments about the free part of services offered by Animoto, a Web 2.0 website which allows you to create short free multimedia slideshows. Using Animoto, it is possible to make a 30 seconds video clip which directly melts your images/photographs with a soundtrack you can freely select in their data bank. The link of the video will be sent directly to your email and to all your friends if you prefer. Obviously, a paid subscription allows you to obtain longer videos with HD quality but, after some tests, we were actually satisfied from the Animoto slideshow we had obtained without paying anything. It is a pity we had so many problems when we decided to use Linux OSs to test Animoto… Something to try if you like to show some photos on your website (especially if you have a dark background). AddThis mp3 link

How to install a new Linux distribution -Linux4One- on your Netbook Acer Aspire One

Today, on our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have posted an enthusiastic review about Linux4One a very stable new Linux distribution which represents a real opportunity if you want to test a new OS on Your Acer Aspire One. Linux4One website is essential but well structured; unfortunately it does not contains many information so the best thing yo do is downloading their specially developed Ubuntu based Linux4One and test it. This particular distribution, with a customized Kernel, perfectly runs on our Aspire One: we did not find any problem with the hardware and smoothly passed all the tests. Last but not least, the Italian guys are developing a Linux4One special edition which should be mounted directly from a Usb key, we hpe it will be ready ASAP. Something you must try if you like Ubuntu and want it on your Aspire One! AddThis mp3 link

How to install XBMC on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted a brief tutorial about installing XBMC on Ubuntu 8.10. As you certainly know, XBCM is a complete Media Center based on Ubuntu. This program is multiplatform (Linux, Windows, OS X and also XBOX – not officially supported-) and, in our opinion, is the most efficient and complete open source media center you can find today on the Internet. Moreover, XBMC has developed a special version that could be installed on a USB Key on a Live CD to freely test the application before installing on your PC. The post is brief but contains all the complete instructions to quickly install XBMC without problems. Please, be sure to digit sudo apt-get update in Terminal after you install the new repositories. Recommended!! AddThis mp3 link

How to solve a troublesome problem with the keyboard and AWN (Avant Window Navigator) to when upgrading Ubuntu to its 8.10 version!

Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we posted some brief notes about how to solve a graphic bug we found on Ubuntu after the upgrade to the 8.10 version. In fact, when we upgraded Ubuntu to its 8.10 version we were not able to visualize AWN (Avant Window Navigator) because it was impossible to switch the Visual Effects to Normal but we were obliged to use just the None settings. At the same time we lost the left part of our keyboard: the numeric pad and the “arrow pad”. Surfing Internet we found several different suggestions but the only one effective for us  (and for our NVidia graphic card) was that which suggested to completely remove the xserver-xgl package using Synaptic Package Manager. We do not know why but, after removinging xserver-xgl, we actually solved all our problems contemporaneously. Suggested for all that people who has found the same bug when upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10! AddThis mp3 link